Janet Grogan is an Irish singer and songwriter. She comes from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Ireland.

Training

In 2008, Grogan studied Pop Music Design at the

Popakademie Baden-Württemberg The Popakademie Baden-Württemberg ''(University of Popular Music And Music Business)'' is a German public conservatory for popular music based in Mannheim, Germany. Established in 2003 by the state of Baden-Württemberg, it was the first institu ...

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

, Germany as an

exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, but d ...

on a scholarship.

Career

Grogan became known as the co-writer and vocalist of ''Alles kann besser werden'' by

Xavier Naidoo Xavier Kurt Naidoo (German: �kseːviɐ naɪˈduː born 2 October 1971) is a German soul and R&B singer, songwriter and record producer. He is a founding member of German band Söhne Mannheims, and started two record labels, Beats Around the ...

, which charted in Germany(No. 6, 33 weeks), Austria (No. 16, 26 weeks) and Switzerland (No. 28, 26 weeks). She composed the track with Milan Martelli, Matthew Tasa and Xavier Naidoo. In 2018, Janet wrote the song "Lord (It's ok)" with Cian Sweeney, known professionally as 1000 Beasts. Grogan also performed the lead vocal on the track which was released in early 2018.

X-Factor

Janet has twice been a contestant on the UK singing competition ''The X-Factor'' (UK) In 2014 Janet competed on the 11th series, making it as far as the 6 Chair Challenge, but was unsuccessful in keeping the chair. When the show aired

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of '' The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on ...

tweeted out that he made a mistake and should have kept Janet. Grogan later returned, in part due to Cowell's tweet, and was a contestant in the 13th series of ''The X-Factor'' (UK), getting to Judges' houses as part of Sharon Osbourne's Team.

Eurovision

Grogan was a backing singer for

Nicky Byrne Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne Jr. (born 9 October 1978) is an Irish pop singer, songwriter and radio and television presenter, best known for being a member of the pop group Westlife; he is the band's oldest member. Westlife has since relea ...

at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Janet returned to the Eurovision stage to represent Ireland in 2018 as part of

Ryan O'Shaughnessy Ryan O'Shaughnessy (born 27 September 1992) is an Irish singer and former actor from Loughshinny, Skerries, Dublin. He portrayed Mark Halpin in the popular TV series ''Fair City'' for nine years (2001–2010). In January 2012, he appeared in th ...

's performance of "Together".

Last Singer Standing

In 2021, Grogan took part as a contestant on the

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís ...

singing gameshow, '' Last Singer Standing.'' She was the last player to qualify for the grand finale. In the final, she performed

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed " The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston i ...

's ' I Want to Dance with Somebody'. She finished in sixth place.

Eurosong 2022

On 18 January 2022, it was announced that Janet would be performing for a chance to represent Ireland at Eurovision 2022 with the song "Ashes of Yesterday". The song was written by Aidan O'Connor, John Emil and Sandra Wikström Janet has previous experience at the Eurovision as a backing vocalist for Nicky Byrne in 2016, and with

in 2018. Grogan finished in second place in the Irish National Final. Janet released "Ashes of Yesterday" as her first solo single on 4 February 2022, with the song available to buy and across all streaming platforms.

References

21st-century Irish women singers Living people Singers from Dublin (city) The X Factor (British TV series) contestants 1988 births {{Ireland-singer-stub